Once Upon a Time Party Ideas
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ABC's "Once Upon a Time" is Little Jo's favorite television show, so it came as no surprise to me that she wanted a "Once Upon a Time" themed 10th birthday party. This sounded fun and a nice switch from the Disney princess themes that typically invade our home. Let me walk you through the decorations and games that we had!
The cake table was the centerpiece of the party, as usual. Watchers of the show will recognize the birch tree wallpaper from Mayor Regina's office. That design made a graphic background for everything else on the table. I tried to stick to a color palette of deep blue, black, red, and white. The cake itself was hand-painted to resemble the woods in the shows's opening sequence, and I purchased the Once Upon a Time cake topper from Etsy, where they are available in multiple colors.
I picked up the curly branches and the lacy white metal canisters at IKEA, and I found the red velvet heart ornaments at a local store right after Valentine's Day. The popcorn boxes are filled with our kettle corn that I tinted red by adding food coloring to the oil. The boxes themselves are part of a Once Upon A Time Party Printables set that's available on Etsy.
You might recognize the bowl full of apples from Regina's office as well. I think it is the exact version they use on the show, and you can get one at Wayfair.
The "Regina's Apple Treats" sign next to the bowl of apples is from the Once Upon A Time Party Printables set, which eight different labels, all honoring our favorite characters from the show. We put each one next to a plate of goodies that matched.
The Once Upon A Time Party Printables set also includes printable favor boxes made to look like Regina's heart boxes from the show! I filled them with heart-shaped chocolates for the kids.
Many of the printables come with two different backgrounds, so we mixed and matched for the party. For example, for the cutlery wraps we used both the white birch tree background (from the Mayor's office) and the blue forest background (from the show's title sequence).
I couldn't believe my luck finding birch tree paper straws that look super cute with the storybook-inspired "Once Upon a Time" printable straw flags attached.
Even Granny's Diner, the favorite hangout spot of the Storybrooke characters, is represented in the printables. We applied the round labels to coffee cups for the adults.
The 2" round circles, featuring the characters' faces, were designed to be used as cupcake picks, but I think they worked great on my punch cups, too!
I love the "Wishing Well Water Company" labels in the printables set so much! The instructions came with a great tip for keeping condensation from ruining the paper when the bottles are on ice -- just laminate them on both sides with regular packing tape!
Hook's pirate chest is filled with chocolate coins that we used for a game I will explain later. I also bought some pirate compasses
A few toy yellow VW Beetles were a must as part of the decorations.
The favor boxes look pretty frightening in front of the Evil Queen poster, don't you think?
Or perhaps a cinnamon candied apple treat would be more your style? So delicious you will want to take a chance on whether it is poisonous or not!
The Once Upon A Time Party Printables set also includes letters, numbers and character faces to create a custom party banner, which made for a really dramatic wall decoration.
I altered Snow White's "Wanted" poster in Photoshop to include a picture of Little Jo instead, and hung plenty of them around the party space.
I set up another table outside for displaying the food. I used an Enchanted Forest Scene Setter for the background, and pieced together some fluffy, green throw rugs from IKEA to create the grass tabletop.
I purchased some bright red fake apples at Michaels and tied them onto this branchy tree that I usually use for Christmas decorating.
Another yellow VW Beetles added the perfect touch.
All the kids dressed as their favorite fairy tale characters. Little Jo had so much fun putting together her Emma Swan costume!
We played a few simple games at the party as well, all in keeping with the theme of the show.
GAME: Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop — The first game involved a trip to Mr. Gold's pawn shop. Guests were greeted at the front door with this sign, also from the printables set.
Inside the door, guests saw tons of weird things that I collected from around the house, and which one might find in a magical pawn shop such as Mr. Gold's.
Part way through the party, I told the kids that we were going to visit the shop again to take a look around at things they might want to buy later. After giving them a few minutes to look around, I then took them into a separate room and had them write down as many things as they could remember from the shop. The one who remembered the most items won. The kids loved the "trick" and lamented not having paid more attention!
GAME: Character Scavenger Hunt — I purchased inexpensive 4x6 photo albums from the Dollar Store and used them to make a storybook for each kid.
The books had sections for each character, made up of a story card and a few black-and-white photos showing scenes from the show. Each of these scenes had an important element blocked out, and the kids had to figure out what it was.
The kids had to find coordinating full-color versions of those pictures, which were hidden throughout the party space. The first one to find all the matching photos and turn the book in won. This was a great way for the kids who don't watch the show to get to know the characters better, and they all liked having a photo album to add their own party photos to after the party.
All of these black-and-white and full-color images, as well as the book cover, are available free for you in our downloadable Once Upon a Time printable party game.
GAME: All Magic Comes with a Price — As prizes for the other games, I handed out bonus golden chocolate coins that were then used for this fun auction-style game. I filled about 15 gold satin drawstring pouches with items. Some of the prizes were good, like Play-Doh, a Slinky, or a ball. Some of the prizes were not so good, like rocks, cotton swabs, and a tiny bottle of baby powder. The kids had no idea what was in each bag, and had to use their chocolate coins to buy the pouches at auction based on their instincts. The kids enjoyed this game the most and even found it fun to get the bad prizes.
This was such a fun party, and I loved it as much as Little Jo did. I hope you find these OUAT party tips and decorating ideas inspirational.
43 comments so far:
This is an absolutely amazing job! It is a wonderful party setup. Wow!!
This is awesome. Where did you get the mirror? I have been looking for a party like this for my daughter for inspiration. She loves the show. We watch it religiously. Thinking about doing a mystery dinner. Any ideas for that?
I purchased the mirror at IKEA. I love the idea of it being a murder mystery party. I would get a basic murder mystery box kit and alter the characters and clues to fit the characters for OUAT. That would be the easiest thing to do!
Hi Where did you get the popcorn buckets ?
Deanna, the popcorn boxes are part of our printables set, available for purchase through the links above.
Thank you so much for sharing your party. My daughter wants to have a Once Upon a Time party for her 11th birthday in October and after spending hours trying to find some inspiration I came across your blog. What you have created is the feel that I want for hers. I am thinking of purchasing your printable set and we plan on having a scavenger hunt as well. I also have a blog at http://www.myhuhnkelife.com and will definitely give you kudos when I post about her party. Thank you again - you are amazing!
Lacey
Lacey, we are so happy to have inspired you. We can't wait to see your blog post so make sure you tag us!
What an awesome elaborate job you did at creating this OUAT party! We love it! We hope to do this for our 13 year old....or at least try to do a small part of this great thing you put together! Perhaps you can tell us where you got the backdrop of the blue with trees in the pictures with the tree branches with the apples on them and on the one in the background with your daughter in her Emma outfit. I figured it might be some sort of plastic table cloth or something. Thanks so much for this wonderful page you put together and all the explanations! It is one of the best things we have seen!
Thanks, Julie! The backdrop is an Enchanted Forest Scene Setter from OTC.
This is absolutely amazing! I bet your daughter had a blast! Wow I am so impressed. So creative!
I'm going to borrow a lot of your ideas for my daughter's 14th birthday party with a OUAT theme. Thank you so much for sharing! My blog is Disney Planning and Parties https://aleasalbums.wordpress.com/
Alea, we can't wait to see how your party turns out!
Thanks! Its not until the end of May, but I like to be prepared!
This is amazing! I have 13 years, in two years 15 and i really wish one party like this, but i don't think my mother i like the idea.
Great work!
im haveing a ouat party for my 11th birthday!
What kind of paper did you use to the popcorn boxes? they seem very sturdy- and i'm guessing it isn't regular printer paper.....Also where did you buy the black and white tree background? it's very cool!
Emma, the popcorn boxes are printed on cardstock. The black and white tree background is wallpaper that we found here on Amazon.
Where did you get the Heart boxes?? They're awesome!!
Julia, they are part of our printables set, which you can purchase through the links above.
Hello!!! I love, love, love this post and all the links to purchase the props. Fantastic. I ordered the printables yesterday. So happy to also finally find the apple bowl. I have been searching for what seems like forever for it. The mirror looks great.. I saw you purchased it at Ikea, but how did you do the blue tint/ Sidney background?
Nichole, we're so glad we could help! That's actually a print out of Sydney taped to the mirror and then some blue cellophane cut to fit over top!
Where did you get the bowl like Regina's that you have the apples in? I really want it for my kitchen table as my apple holder.
Raven, you can find the bowl at Wayfair.
How did you do the mirror? It looks amazing!
Amanda, I bought the mirror at IKEA and then I printed out the face and used double-stick tape to mount it to the middle. I then cut a piece of blue transparent paper (the kind you wrap gift baskets with) and placed that on top.
Thanks for sharing, I'm planning my daughter sweet sixteen and the theme is this wonderful show. So exciting.
I am looking to make my own once upon a time storybook I can't find with your link or online any printable book covers. Any suggestions? Looking for the font and style from show.
Cheryl, if you would like to make your own like we did using the photo albums for the scavenger hunt game, we have a free download for you that includes the book cover. The larger book you see in the image was a hand-painted iPad cover purchased on Easy as a gift for Little Jo.
Hi Jo,
My daughter is also choosing this theme for her 10th birthday, (June 10th) what are the odds?! But I can't seem to find the Enchanted Forest Scene setter anywhere. Is there anyway I can buy yours from you?? It would be much appreciated. I would even send th e money in advance if needed. Everywhere is sold out!
I'm looking forward to your response. My daughter is so excited we found your blog.
Thanks,
Kira
Hi! This is absolutely AMAZING! I cant wait to throw my party for my friend who absolutely loves this show! Do you have printables for Regina's Heart Boxes?
Sam, so glad you like our ideas! The OUAT printables set we got on Etsy does contain small favor boxes that look like Regina's heart boxes.
OMG I am not a kid and I want a party just like this one? amazing job
I really love the mirror. How/what did you do for the blue on it with Sidney Glass?
Annamarie, I bought the mirror at IKEA and then I printed out the face and used double-stick tape to mount it to the middle. I then cut a piece of blue transparent paper (the kind you wrap gift baskets with) and placed that on top.
Where did you find everything because I cant find anything related to this birthday theme!
Peter, we provided links within the post above for sources for all products we were able to.
We are late getting on board with Once Upon a Time and during the pandemic me and my 11 year old had time to watch and she wants to do this theme for her 12th birthday. My question is where did you find the movie posters. I found some on red bubble but they were like 14 dollars a piece. Just wondering if there was a set to get for cheaper. Thanks Love this idea!!!
Denise, we're glad you found OUAT and have enjoyed it! We unfortunately no longer have a source to direct you to for the posters. The place we got them no longer sells them.
I LOVE this post, and I'm excited to do this for my birthday in September (yes I like to prepare VERY early), but I really need to know how you printed the popcorn buckets on the card stock!! I don't know whether to use my own printer or go purchase cardstock printed images!
Victoria, we're so glad you like this party idea! You can get the printable popcorn box templates from in this OUAT printables set on Etsy. Once you have those digital files, you can use your own printer to print them onto cardstock paper.
Ok Chica, thank you!! Also, one more question! How did you photoshop the WANTED poster for Little Jo? I loved that idea, but I just haven't figured out how to do it!
Victoria, it was all design work within Photoshop. I did a Google Image search for "snow white wanted ouat" to get inspiration to see what the poster looked like. Then I opened a picture of my daughter, changed the coloring to a sepia tone, and added text over top of it. Hope that helps!
I love OUAT! I am 28 years old (Emma´s age!!!) and I would love a themed party! I wish someone threw me a party like this :(